Revealed: YouTube’s three legal grounds for challenging inclusion in Australia’s under-16s social media ban

<p>Exclusive: Letter released under FoI argues company was denied procedural fairness when it was included in looming law</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/oct/02/australia-news-live-dan-tehan-liberals-nuclear-sussan-ley-coalition-anthony-albanese-labor-flotilla-bhp-china-ntwnfb">Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates</a></p></li><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>YouTube has outlined three grounds on which it could legally challenge its inclusion in the under-16s social media ban, which is due to come into effect in just over two months.</p><p>In July, the federal government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/29/children-to-be-banned-from-having-youtube-accounts-as-albanese-government-backflips-on-exemption">reversed an earlier decision</a> to exclude YouTube from the ban, acting on advice from the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. The advice was based on research that found 76% of 10 to 15-year-olds had used YouTube, and 37% of children who had seen or heard potentially harmful content online <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/25/should-youtube-be-included-in-australias-under-16s-social-media-ban-heres-what-you-need-to-know">had found it on YouTube</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/02/youtube-three-legal-grounds-fchallenging-inclusion-australia-under-16s-social-media-ban">Continue reading...</a>